Ultrasound waveform tomography with TV regularization

Abstract

Synthetic-aperture ultrasound tomography systems and methods using scanning arrays and algorithms configured to simultaneously acquire ultrasound transmission and reflection data, and process the data for improved ultrasound tomography imaging, wherein the tomography imaging comprises total-variation regularization, or a modified total variation regularization.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a 35 U.S.C. §111(a) continuation of PCT international application number PCT / US2013 / 024545 filed on Feb. 3, 2013, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 594,865, filed on Feb. 3, 2012, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Priority is claimed to each of the foregoing applications.[0002]The above-referenced PCT international application was published as PCT International Publication No. WO 2013 / 116809 on Aug. 8, 2013, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0003]This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396 awarded by the Department of Energy. The Government has certain rights in the invention.INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF COMPUTER PROGRAM APPENDIX[0004]Not ApplicableNOTICE OF MATERIAL SUBJECT T...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a system and method for using ultrasound data to create a real-time image of a patient's body. The system uses a special ultrasound technology called synthetic-aperture ultrasound tomography, which allows for the acquisition of each tomographic slice of patient ultrasound data in real time. The method also includes total-variation regularization to improve the sound-speed reconstructions of small breast tumors, and a modified total-variation regularization scheme that allows for more effective edge-preserving without adding too much extra computational cost. Overall, the technology allows for faster and more accurate ultrasound imaging with high resolution.

Problems solved by technology

Ultrasound waveform tomography is gaining popularity, but is computationally expensive, even for today's fastest computers.

The computational cost increases linearly with the number of transmitting sources.

Accordingly, these systems suffer from extensive computational costs, insufficient resolution, or both.

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